Random Acts of Kindness

I found this idea over at Small Bird studio where Franchesca is hosting a project called 12 days of Christmas without you with guest bloggers from our community. There are ideas on how to cope with the Christmas season, angel ornaments tutorials and other projects to do for our sweet babies. Mattie from Beauty Will Rise guest blogged the idea of Random Acts of Kindness in your child's name in last years' 12 days of Christmas. I knew this was the prefect idea for us to include Cordelia this Christmas as soon as I read it.

I spoke to Mr M about it and he agreed that it was a nice way to include Cordelia as well as our family and friends overseas. Cordelia's sister and cousins will be opening gifts this year and it is not fair that she isn't here to do that. So instead Cordelia's gift is a gift to others-the gift of kindness which in turn is a gift to us.

A few days ago we sent the email and made a post on Facebook asking our friends and family to commit a Random Act of Kindness towards a stranger between now and Christmas and to think of/dedicate the act to Cordelia while they are doing it.

The act does not need to involve money and it can be as simple as holding the door open for someone. Once the Random Act of Kindness has been performed we have asked that our friends and family email us with the email subject 'Cordelia's Kindness' so we know not to peek. We will print them off without reading them and place them in Cordelia's stocking. On Christmas morning we will open them and read out all the kind things that have been done in Cordelia's memory.

What a sweet way to remember our beautiful little girl this Christmas.

We have tried to make remembering Cordelia as positive as we can. After she passed away we asked friends to make donations to children's charities in lieu of flowers. It makes my heart hurt just a little less to know that other kids out there may be getting life saving equipment or medicine because of those donations made in Cordelia's name. Similarly I am hoping that these Random  Acts of Kindness may make a small difference to people and our society. It could make someones day. Sometimes it is the small things in life that make the big difference. A friendly smile to a passer by could be the only smile they get that day. It makes me feel a bit warm inside knowing that we can impact peoples lives even in the smallest way with our love for Cordelia.

I am hoping that the thought of our friends and family doing nice things for people will help this Christmas to be a little easier on us, although really there is nothing that will take the pain away. I have no doubt in my mind that I will cry while reading the notes we receive. I expect we will not be able to read them in one go but I do expect to get some comfort knowing our little girl is making an impact on peoples lives for the better.

Of course I wish with all my heart that she was with us, I didn't ever dream in a million years that her first Christmas would look like this. Who would. But this is what this Christmas looks like, no matter what. So I am making every effort as hard as it is to make it a special one-for all of us, including my sweet Cordelia.

Please feel free to commit a Random Act of Kindness in Cordelia's name too.

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